The present invention relates to systems and methods for removing underwater vegetation and, in particular, to hand tools that allow a user on the shore or in a boat to remove underwater vegetation.
Underwater vegetation is a problem in many bodies of water. For example, underwater vegetation can interfere with recreational activities such as swimming and boating. Some species of underwater vegetation, especially non-native species, can infest a body of water to a degree that interferes with wildlife and degrades water quality.
Accordingly, numerous systems and methods have been developed to remove underwater vegetation. These systems range from relatively complicated under or in water harvesting activities to the use of hand tools such as garden rakes.
The present invention relates to hand tools adapted to remove underwater vegetation from the bed of a body of water such as a pond or a lake.
A professional patentability search conducted on behalf of the applicant uncovered the following U.S. Patents:
The Jones, Bergstrom, and Mitchell patents all disclose mechanical rakes adapted to remove vegetation from ponds or lakes.
The Jones patent employs teeth designed to present low resistance when pushed in an outward direction and which dig into the ground on the return, inward direction. The teeth are designed to break up the ground and remove the vegetation by the roots.
The Mitchell patent is designed to cut underwater growth off immediately above the bottom of the water. To this end, the Mitchell device employs a curved plate having a sharpened inner edge that is pulled such that the sharpened edge moves along the lake bottom cutting the plants just above their roots. The Mitchell device is not intended to remove the plants by their roots. To the contrary, the Mitchell device is constructed to keep the parts thereof from digging into the ground and thereby loosening the roots.
The Bergstrom device is designed to remove vegetation from the surface and thus employs a floating rig head. The Bergstrom device engages only the upper ends of the plants and would not be effective at removing the plants by their roots; plants engaged by the Bergstrom device may break anywhere between the upper portion of the plant and the root.
The Cousineau patent is not a strictly mechanical device, but instead uses pressurized water to break up the ground in which the underwater vegetation is growing. The Cousineau device is not a rake in the traditional sense in that it is not intended to mechanically collect vegetation, although this may occur to a small degree. Instead, the purpose of this device appears to be to loosen the vegetation, which will then be removed by other means.
The Sands patent discloses a device for removing a golf ball from the water. This device comprises a rigid piece having upper and lower vertical serrations. These serrations are not intended to remove vegetation. To the contrary, the device is also intended to function as a rake for maintaining sand traps. The serrations are primarily intended for sand trap maintenance, although the rake can also be used to remove golf balls from bodies of water.
The Hawkins patent discloses a rake for brush that comprises a plurality of generally vertical plates that are serrated. This rake is intended for removing brush and not for underwater vegetation.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that the need exists for improved rake systems and methods for removing underwater vegetation.
The present invention may be embodied as a rake system for removing underwater vegetation comprising a plate assembly, a handle assembly, and a line. The plate assembly comprises first and second engaging members each defining an engaging edge. The handle assembly is attached to the plate assembly. The line is attached to the handle assembly. During use, the user grips the handle assembly to toss the plate assembly to a first underwater location. The user then pulls the line to displace the plate assembly from the first underwater location along a harvest path. The engaging edges of the engaging members are adapted to engage the underwater vegetation to fix the underwater vegetation relative to the plate assembly such that continued pulling on the line removes the underwater vegetation in a harvest region defined by the harvest path.